Follow Me
by Verity Hemingway
Summary: Bella manages to go to La Push against the Cullens' wishes, yet her conversation with Jake is not the light-hearted escape from reality that she had hoped for. Written in songfic to 'Follow Me' by Uncle Kracker, Jacob's POV, Original Pairing, Canon.


_You don't know how you met me  
You don't know why, you cant turn around and say good-bye  
All you know is when I'm with you I make you free  
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea  
I'm singing...._

Bella's magenta raincoat got caught on stray branches as she struggled to keep up with me. I laughed, playfully jogging a few paces ahead of her. I enjoyed watching _her _chase _me. _It was like those ridiculous night classes that Quil's mother used to bring him to; they used to play role reversal, where you stepped into the other person's shoes and looked at life through their perspective. And Bella was certainly in my perspective, even if she did not know it. My life was an endless chase, always staring at the back of her head as she stayed several strides ahead of me.

_Follow me  
Everything is alright  
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night  
And if you want to leave  
I can guarantee  
You won't find nobody else like me _

"Jake!" Bella squealed, jumping as a water snake appeared from under a tree root. "Wait up!" I spun around, chuckling as I found her tangled up in her raincoat, leaning on a tree. It was our tree, in a way. The first place that I had ever really talked to her. She had been breath-taking that night, just like always. But I tried to block that conversation out. We had been talking about them. The cold ones. The vampires. The Cullens.  
_  
_

_I don't worry 'bout the ring you wear  
Cause as long as no one knows  
Than nobody can care  
Your feeling guilty  
And I'm well aware  
But you don't look ashamed  
And baby, I'm not scared_

I had received his threats. He had forced Bella to stay away from me ever since he had returned, but my clever Bella had escaped his cold wrath for long enough to walk with me on the beach. She was only half here though. The other half of her was with him. She was always with him in some way or another.

_Follow me  
Everything is alright  
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night  
And if you want to leave  
I can guarantee  
You won't find nobody else like me_

If only Bella could see how good I was for her. He was a drug, and he knew it. That was why he had left her last fall. He had left her and he had left me here to piece her back together again. I _had_, too. When nobody else could. Stitches like that were supposed to last a lifetime, but they seemed to dissolve the minute he returned. My poor Bella. She had fallen for his tricks again. That was what I loved the most about her, and also the thing that I despised. She trusted much too easily.

_I won't give you money  
can't give you the sky  
It better off if you don't ask why  
I'm not the reason that you go astray  
We'll be alright if you don't ask me to stay_

"Bella," I muttered, shaking my head as I detangled her sodden mahogany hair from the tree branch. Bella giggled, averting my eyes as I leaned over her.

"I'm sorry!" she laughed, stepping backwards as soon as her hair was untangled. Her clear eyes were wary as I placed both of my hands on either side of her face.

"Don't," she whispered, the smile wiping off of her face as soon as I touched her. _Drop your hand, Jacob Black, _I hissed internally. _It's what she wants. _Mustering up all of my will power, I let my hand swing helplessly to my side.

"It's him again, isn't it?" I muttered bitterly, pinching the bridge of my nose as I took a step backwards. Bella frowned, searching my face.

"It's always been him, Jake," she whispered, her voice barely there. I could see it in her eyes; she was trying not to hurt me, yet she needed to make her stance known.

_Follow me  
Everything is alright  
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night  
And if you want to leave  
I can guarantee  
You won't find nobody else like me _

"No, Bella," I corrected her, gritting my teeth. "It hasn't. Last January, February and March. It wasn't _him _then." I was hitting below the belt, bringing her back to memories that no sane person should ever have to experience. Remorse filled Bella's eyes, and I instantly regretted it. But I had to make _my _stance clear.

"It was me _then_, Bella," I pointed out, shocked by the tremors in my voice. "You know it, and so do I. He wasn't here- he was God knows where. But I was here, Bella. I was always here." Bella shook her head, tears forming in her eyes as she looked away from my intense gaze.

"Stop it, Jake," she gulped, wrapping her pale arms around her chest. "I shouldn't have come here." I laughed skeptically.

"But you did, Bella," I reminded her. "You always come back."

_You don't know how you met me  
You don't know why, you cant turn around and say good-bye  
All you know is when I'm with you I make you free  
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea _

Bella considered my answer, clearly dumbstruck. If only she could see what I could. If only she could feel what she was doing to me. Then surely she would keep coming back.

But she didn't. She only felt what she was doing to _him.  
_

_Follow me  
Everything is alright  
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night  
And if you want to leave  
I can guarantee  
You won't find nobody else like me _

"Jake, you can do so much better than _me,_" she sighed, using the self-pity card as a last resort. "There are a million girls out there who would-"

"And _him, _Bella?" I interrupted, anger brewing inside of me like boiling water. "He can't do better than you?" Bella froze, stung by my retort.

"That's just it, Jake," she replied, her voice trembling. "He can do so much better than me. You _both_ can, yet you insist on fighting over me like two little children. He doesn't want to do better than me. He wants_ me_." Of all the foolish things that she had said tonight, this one stung the deepest. Did she have no conception over how much _I _wanted her?

"Jesus, Bella," I hissed, leaning in again and placing my hand on the tree next to her face. She recoiled slightly, but I did not hesitate. "_I_ want all of you, forever, you and me, everyday. Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life with _me_? A life where you grow old and _die, _but age doesn't even matter because you're simply _with me. _Wouldn't that be enough? Jesus, Bella, _wouldn't that be enough_?" It all came out at once, as if I had lost all of my self-control. Bella was frightened, breathing heavily yet still silently.

"I'm sorry, Jake," she whispered, tears flying down her cheek. And then she did the worst thing that anybody could ever do to me. She ducked under my arm and hurried away down the shoreline. This time, I didn't chase her.

_Follow me  
Everything is alright  
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night_  
_And if you want to leave  
I can guarantee  
You won't find nobody else like me_

I was growing impatient, but I could wait. I could wait for an eternity.


End file.
